PHL accepts US help in continuing search and rescue for Robredo



The Philippines on Saturday night accepted an offer from the U.S. government to help in the search for Interior and Local Governments Secretary Jesse Robredo and two pilots who went missing after the small plane they were in, which was en route to Naga City from Cebu, crashed off Masbate airport Saturday afternoon.
 
Transportation and Communication Secretary Manuel Roxas II, whom Malacañang authorized to speak on the rescue efforts, said surface search and rescue operations are ongoing as divers with compressors continued the search Saturday evening in the waters off Masbate island.
 
"(As of 9 p.m., we) received and accepted an offer of help via US Naval Attache Capt. Jack Sutherland; the USG has a Fleet Survey team," Roxas said on his Twitter account.
 
The survey team is in Cavite and is now heading towards the site, he said in a later tweet.
 
"Search-and-rescue operations"

Roxas also said surface search-and-rescue operations were ongoing as of 9 p.m. at the site, about 200 meters from the shoreline.
 
"Diving search resumed using compressors. They have obtained compressors fm the area," headded.
 
Robredo, the pilot, and co-pilot of the plane remained missing hours after taking off from Mactan in Cebu toward Naga City.
 
Roxas said the private plane was a twin-engine Piper Seneca. He identified Robredo's aide as Don Abrasado, who was injured but still joined the search party for Robredo.

Roxas also identified one of the pilots as Jessup Bahinting, also chairman and CEO of Aviatour Air, the Mactan-based aircraft rental company that owns the plane Robredo was riding.

According to retired Gen. Darios Tuason of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office in Masbate, scuba divers from the Philippine National Police and other volunteer groups are scouring the waters off the coast to look for Robredo and the other missing people.
 
Asked to describe the weather in the province, Tuason said in an interview with GMA News TV Live: "Okay naman ang panahon dito. Mainit kanina."
 
Tuason said water search and rescue operations have been ongoing for the last hour.
 
"Medyo mahirap na kasi gabi, pero masusubukan dito ang mga night divers namin," Tuason said.
 
He said that the plane has already sunk, but added that the sea in the plane crash site was "not that deep."
 
Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Armand Balilo said they are not ceasing their search and rescue operations even as darkness set in, and they have about 10 to 12 motor bancas in the area scouring for the plane.

Special operations group divers from Legaspi City are also on the way to the crash site and should arrive in Masbate early Sunday, he said.

"Our sarv-3504 [BRP Davao Del Norte] from Cebu will depart tonight to get there tomorrow at around 9 a.m. Another rescue boat from Bicol will also be sent to the area. Our PCG helo is on alert and may depart for Masbate early tomorrow morning," added Balilo.
 
Prayers

In Manila, meanwhile, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said a vigil has started at the National Shrine of the Divine Child inside the La Salle Greenhills (LSGH) campus in San Juan City.
 
The vigil was for the intention of the successful rescue of Robredo, Lacierda said.
 
"We ask those who wish to join our fellow citizens in prayer to go to LSGH and join their fellow citizens at this time of deep concern. We ask that you keep the family of Secretary Robredo and those engaged in rescue efforts in your prayers as well," he said. — with reports from Mark Merueñas/DVM/YA, GMA News

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